


Day by Day

by KcDawson



Category: Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Personas (Persona Series), Child Abuse, Child Neglect, F/M, Falling In Love, Friends to Lovers, M/M, that comes later though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:13:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 17,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24992890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KcDawson/pseuds/KcDawson
Summary: The quiet new kid and the social butterfly.The delinquent transfer student and the student council president.The emo boy and the popular girl.Three unlikely pairs try to navigate their way through their high school life and try to face their troubles.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Niijima Makoto, Arisato Minato/Takeba Yukari, Hanamura Yosuke/Narukami Yu, Hanamura Yosuke/Persona 4 Protagonist, Hanamura Yosuke/Seta Souji, Kurusu Akira/Niijima Makoto, Niijima Makoto/Persona 5 Protagonist, Persona 3 Protagonist/Takeba Yukari, Takeba Yukari/Yuuki Makoto
Comments: 4
Kudos: 112





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! I did a pole in Amino and most people voted for me to write this so here it is! I'll change the narrator of the story every chapter to change things up. I hope you enjoy it!!

**Yu Narukami** **POV**

Yu looks up at his new high school, it's nothing out of the ordinary. Most people are nervous on their first day of school, but not Yu, he's completely used to it and he couldn't care less.

This school will be like all the others, he'll just keep everyone at arms length, not getting too close to anyone. It's the same no matter which school he transfers too, he just comes and leaves, not making an impact on anything around him. 

He starts walk inside when he hears someone yelling behind him. Yu turns to see what's happening and sees a brown haired boy crash his bike and fall directly into a trash can. The boy kicks his legs around, trying to get out but he seems to be stuck.

"Gah! Help! Someone?! A-Anyone!" The boy calls from inside the trash. Part of Yu is tempted to just walk away and leave him be... But everyone else is walking right passed him, and Yu doesn't want the boy to suffocate on the trash... So, he grabs hold of the boy and pulls him out of the trash can.

"Geez I thought I was gonna die in there! Thanks man!" The boy exclaims and looks up at his savior. When he sees Yus face, he tilts his head a little. "Hold on a sec, are you new? I don't think I've seen you around here before."

Yu nods in response to the boys question, he's not really one for conversation. The boy looks like he's about to say something else but the warning bell sounds.

"Oh crap! I gotta get to class! I'll see ya later! And thanks again!" The boy calls as he runs into the school. Yu just watches for a second, not exactly sure what happened but decides to follow the boys example and quickly heads into school.

Yu reads his schedule as he walks down the hallway, searching for his new homeroom class. No matter how many schools he transfers to, it's always hard to find his way around the first day. He must have gotten too distracted by the paper because he suddenly bumps into a student, causing him to drop his paper.

"Oh, sorry" Says boy that walked into him as he picks up Yus paper. "Here."

"Thanks" Yu says and gets good look at the boy as he takes his paper back. He has messy black hair and glasses, he's a little shorter than Yu, but not by much.

"You're new, right? Are you lost?" The black haired boy asks.

"Yeah... I'm looking for class 2-A." Yu says.

"Oh, you're a second year, I guess you're my Senpai then..." The black haired boy says. "Anyway, your class should be upstairs, third classroom down the hall."

Yu thanks him again then hurries off to class, he definitely doesn't want to be late on his first day. He thinks he hears some people whispering as he leaves, something about a delinquent or something, but he doesn't give it much thought.

He manages to get to class in time thanks to the first year he met. He stands in front of the class and does his usual introduction, he's said it a thousand times by now, then takes his seat.

Hes not paying much attention to who's around him until he feels a tap on his back. He glances behind him to see the brunette he pulled out of the trash earlier.

"Hey dude! Looks like we're in the same class!" He whispers a bit too loudly, the teacher turning around and gives him a stern look.

"Hanamura, pay attention" They say firmly.

"Crap... Sorry..." The boy- Hanamura says and looks away, looking embarrassed. At least Yu can focus on the class now without getting distracted by anyone. It can be a little difficult to transfer in this middle of the year looks like this, but thankfully his old school was a little ahead of this one, so he already knows the material.

The class passes quick enough and soon the bell rings. Yu stands and starts walking out the of class, he barely managed to make it into the hallway when someone runs up next to him, to no surprise, it's Hanamura.

"Hey! It's Narukami right?" He asks, his tone sounds excited and upbeat and Yu can't help but wonder if he always has this much energy.

"Yeah" Yu says simply, he keeps walking but Hanamura follows.

"Thanks again for earlier, seriously, I thought I was gonna be stuck there forever!" He says.

"That's... A bit much. I'm sure someone would've helped eventually" Yu tells him but Hanamura shakes his head.

"No way man, they would've left me there, I know it" Hanamura insists.

"Well... You're well then..." Yu responds and sees Yosuke grin at him.... It's a nice smile.

"Oh! Right! I haven't introduced myself yet! I'm Yosuke Hanamura, I transferred here last year from Tokyo, so I know what it's like to be the new kid. Need any help and I'm your guy!"

"Thank you, but I think I'll be alright" Yu assures, how ever Hanamura rolls his eyes as he drapes his arm around Yus shoulders.

"Cmon, don't be like shy! You helped me out so now it's my turn to help you. Hey, why don't you sit with me at lunch! It'll be fun!" It doesn't seem like Yu can get out of this, so he agrees before they both have to go back to class.

He manages to make it through the next few classes without being bothered too much, but soon the bell rings, signaling the start of lunch. Hanamura gets to his desk quickly, having that same excited smile.

"Ready to go? I'll show you the best place to eat" He says with a wink, Yu responds with a nod and stands. The two of them walk to their lockers to get their lunch then Hanamura starts leading him upstairs. The brunette ends up bringing him up to the roof, there are a few other students eating up there as well,two of which are eating by themselves. 

One of them has blue hair that covers one eye, he doesn't seem to mind the fact that he's by himself and is enjoying his lunch. The other is the same boy who helped him earlier, no one is sitting anywhere close to him. Yu thinks he looks a little lonely, but it's probably best to just leave him be.

"Hm? What's up" Hanamuras voice pulls Yu out of his thoughts.

"I ran into him earlier" Yu says simply, looking at the boy with glasses.

"Him? Really? That's the first year transfer student. I don't know if it's true, but I heard a few rumors about him" Hanamura says, which gets Yu to frown.

"Rumors?" He asks, earning a nod from Hanamura.

"Yeah, he's here on probation, he has a criminal record for assault or something. That's what I've heard at least..." He explains. That's definitely surprising to Yu, the boy seemed to be quite kind earlier, but it would explain the whispers he heard about a delinquent. But they are just rumors, he can't really judge the boy if he doesn't know anything about what actually happened.

Yu decides not to think too much about it for now and sits next to Hanamura as they both start on their lunches.

"So, whyd you transfer here?" Hanamura asks looking at Yu curiously.

"It's nothing special, my parents just move a lot for their work." He explains.

"Oh, yeah you're right, that is boring. I was hopin you'd have a secret dark passed or something." Hanamura says as he nudges him with a teasing smile.

"Sorry to disappoint" Yu response and Hanamura rolls his eyes.

"You're way too serious bro, seriously, you're like a robot or something" He says and laughs.

"Maybe I am a robot and I was sent here to collect information on high school students so we can take you all out quickly." Yu's obviously joking, but his face remains deadpan and his voice sounds serious. It's quite amusing to see Hanamuras eyes widen for a second then realizes it's a joke and punches his shoulder.

"Geez! Don't say weird stuff like that with a straight face, you freaked me out for a sec!" He exclaims and Yu can't help but smile a little.

"Sorry" He says and Hanamura let's out a little huff of annoyance, but he smiles regardless.

"Anyway, your lunch looks good, did your mom make it?" He asks curiously and Yu shakes his head.

"No, I did" Yu explains and Hanamuras eyes widen.

"Seriously?! Dude that looks so good!" He exclaims, making Yu flinch slightly at how loud he is.

"It's nothing really" He tells the excited boy to try to calm him down, but Hanamura steals a vote of his food, only exciting him more.

"Holy crap! Dude! This tastes AMAZING!" The brunette practically yells.

"It's really not that great, I just made it this morning" Yu says, not used to being praised and like this.

"Don't put yourself down like that, this is seriously like, the best thing I've ever tasted!"Hanamura tells him, and he doesn't seem to be lying.

" I'm... Happy you like it..?" Yu responds and Hanamura wraps his arm around his shoulders.

"That's more like it! You gotta let me try more of your food sometime!" He says and Yu decides it's probably best to just agree to his request.

Lunch goes by much faster than Yu expects, him and Hanamura pack up and go back to their class to finish the day. Yu takes quick yet neat notes of what the teachers say so he can study when he gets home, and the day is over before he knows it.

Hanamura follows him out rambling about how boring school is, but he eventually runs off to his bike and bikes away. Yu watches him go, hoping he doesn't fall into any more trash cans as he walks back to his house.

To no surprise, his parents aren't home, they're usually gone for weeks at a time at their work place. Yu doesn't mind, it's been like this pretty much his whole life. He puts his bag down and does his usual chores to keep the house clean. No matter when or where he moves, his schedule is always the same.

Once he's finished clean, he goes upstairs and starts on some homework. For what reason, his mind keeps going back to Hanamura. He doesn't really get why Hanamura was so friendly to him, but it's definitely going to be hard to keep him away.

Yu sighs to himself. He can already tell, his new school life will be quite eventful. 


	2. The Delinquent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira has a fateful encounter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it took me so long to update! I was really busy with my friends birthday gift so I couldn't spend much time writing. But I finally finished this chapter! Before we start, there are a two things I forgot to mention in the previous chapter. 
> 
> 1) the schools name is Geshugami, which is a mix of the three school names from the games
> 
> 2) Their age is dependent on their game, so Akira is a first year, since his game is the newest, Yus a second year and Minatos a third year.

**Akira POV**

Akira used to like school, he really did, until he got arrested.

He had a great family and some friends back in his home town, but now, at this school… He doesn’t have anyone. Everyone avoids him and talks behind his back. He can’t go anywhere without being called ‘delinquent’ or ‘problem child’. Even the teachers give him nasty looks…

He’s been here a little while now and he hasn’t made any friends, the closest he’s gotten was helping that second year pick up his paper earlier. He can’t help but sigh at how sad that sounds.

The thing is, he shouldn’t have gotten arrested. He was just walking home from school when he saw a girl being assaulted by some man. Of course, Akira couldn’t just let that go, so he went over to try to stop it. All he did was put a hand on the man’s shoulder, but said man was quite drunk and ended up falling and hitting his head.

This angered the man and threatened the woman to tell the police that Akira just attacked him for no reason. And so, the woman told that to the police, Akira assumes the man was important since the police recognized him and called him ‘sir’. Akira ended up being found guilty and had to be sent away from his family on probation.

That leaves him here, at Geshugami high as he slowly starts resenting school more and more. He lost count of how many lunches he spent alone, just thinking about how much he misses home.

Bat least the Café he’s staying at isn’t too bad, the owner is a friend of his parents and although he was a bit cold at first, he’s starting to warm up a little. He even taught Akira how to make coffee which is pretty cool. He just wishes that people at school would start warming up a little as well, but they’re all too scared to even come near him.

Akira closes the book he’s been reading and rubs his eyes, it seems like he’s been reading for a while now. School ended a while ago and he decided to go to the link to read, but it looks like he lost track of time. It’s already starting to get dark out.

Akira quickly puts the book away and leaves the school. He gets some fast food as he walks home since he’s sure his current guardian (Sojiro Sakura) won’t want to give him any curry this late.

By the time he finishes, it’s gotten quite dark. He starts walking home, hoping Sojiro doesn’t get annoyed at him for coming home late. He’s almost when he hears two people’s voices talking up ahead.

“I really have to go” A girls voice says and Akira stops to listen in. He has a tendency to eavesdrop a lot.

“Aw c’mon baby, don’t be like that” says a man’s voice and Akira frowns, this doesn’t sound good.

“As I says, I have somewhere to be” The girls voice continues.

“Don’t be a prude, just come with me!”

“Gh! Let go of me!” As Akira hears the girl say this, he’s already running over.

“Ooh, you’re a feisty one! I like that.” The man says.

When Akira reaches then, he sees an adult man pinning a young lady to the wall. The girl is struggling but the guy has her pinned quite tightly. Even though it messed up his life last time, he doesn’t hesitate to help.

“Hey! Leave her alone!” He calls which startles the guy enough that he must have loosened his grip, because the girl manages to grab his arm and flip him over onto the ground. Akiras definitely impressed by that, it looked like some type of martial arts.

“Gah! Screw this! Get over here and grab them! Before anyone else comes!” The guy calls as Akira starts hearing people running after over, they must have been hiding and waiting for their sign to come out and help.

“Follow me!” Akira calls to the girl and starts running, making sure she’s close behind. He quickly runs to LeBlanc and grabs the spare key out of his pocket, opening the door. He makes sure the girls inside first before closing and locking it.

Based on what that guy said earlier, they don’t want to make a scene that would attract people attention, and breaking into a store would definitely do such. Even still, he looks peeks out the blinds to make sure they’re not there, and it seems the coast is clear.

A small part of Akira is mad at himself, rushing into a scenario like that is exactly what got him arrested to begin with. He shouldn’t have been so reckless, it could have ended really badly. But most of him, is just really glad that he helped this girl and she didn’t end up hurt, or worse.

Thankfully, Sojiro already closed up and left so he doesn’t question the scene of two high-schoolers running in here together. Akira takes a breath to steady the adrenaline coursing through him during that encounter then turns to the girl. He just now notices that she’s wearing a Geshugami uniform, so she must be close to his age.

“Are you alright?” Akira asks, wanting to make sure she’s not hurt.

“Y-Yes, thank you” The girl assures, she’s trying to be strong, but Akira can hear the slight shake in her voice and he sees haw her hands are trembling a little. He definitely doesn’t blame her, that must have been terrifying for her.

“You can take a seat if you want, I’ll make you some coffee, just until you calm down. If you don’t want to, that’s alright too of course. I understand if you don’t want to be alone with some stranger after that…” Akira offers, he just wants to help in any way he can.

“ I… I think coffee sounds alright” She says and Akira can’t help but smile a little. It makes him happy to see this girl trust him.

“Alright, just make yourself at home” He assures and gets to work on the coffee. He makes sure to prepare everything where she can see him so she knows he isn’t putting anything shady into her drink. He’s heard stories of guys doing that, and he just wants her to be comfortable. When the coffees ready, he sets down the girls mug and takes a seat in front of her with his own. The girl observes him as he does, her red eyes watching him closely

“You’re… The transfer student right? The first year everyone’s talking about?” She asks abs Akira feels his heart sink.

“Yeah… That’s me.” He admits, there’s no point in lying.

“It’s a little strange, you seem completely different than how people describe you. ”She says and Akira looks back up at her again, getting hopeful.

“Really?” Is all that he manages to ask and the girl nods.

“If you were anything like the rumors, you would have helped that man instead of me, so you’re definitely not as bad as they say.” She says and Akira smiles a little.

“I don’t know, I’m pretty bad. Sometimes, I’ll even jaywalk.” He says as if it were a terrible crime, which gets the girl to laugh a little.

“I don’t mean to be rude… But why do you have a record…? I highly doubt that you would assault someone” She says. This is the first time someone’s actually asked Akira his side of the story instead of just jumping to the conclusion that he’s a horrible person.

He tells her what happened the night he got arrested and she listens to him with a sympathetic look.

“That’s horrible… And you got a criminal record because of that…” She says once Akira finishes.

“Yeah well… It’s in the past now, nothing I can do about it.” He sighs.

“I’m still sorry..” The girl says, she seems completely genuine.

“Don’t worry about it, really. Oh, I just realized, I didn’t really introduce myself. I’m Akira Kurusu” Akira says, wanting to change the subject.

“Ah, I haven’t introduced myself either. My names Makoto Niijima.” The girl- Niijima responds.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you Niijima-san” He tells her with a smile but she shakes her head.

“Please, just call me Makoto. You really saved me today, so no honorifics.” She says.

“Alright, then you can just call me Akira” Makoto smiles a little at this.

“I’m sorry to cut this short… But I really should be heading home. We do have school tomorrow after all. Thank you for the coffee, it was really good” She says aa she stands.

“I’ll walk you to the train station, just in case.” Akira offers and Makoto agrees. He walks her to the station where they part ways.

As he walks back home, he thinks for the first time since he moved here that this school might not be so bad after all.


	3. The Girl im the Pink Sweater

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in 1 day! Told ya I'd try to update faster. This chapter is a bit shorter than the others but I hope you still enjoy.

**Minato POV**

Minato never really cared for school, there’s too many people for his taste. It’s not so much that he doesn’t like people, but he just can’t really see the point in befriending anyone. Because of this, he just finds school crowded and loud.

He always eats his lunch alone on the roof. There are usually people there, but it’s not too crowded and Minato can always just play his music so it’s like no one’s there.

What a lot of people don’t seem to realize though, is that Minato notices a lot. That’s what happens when someone doesn’t spend much time with people, but spends a lot of it around people. They pick up on a lot of small things that most people don’t see.

For example, take the girl in the pink sweater that sits next to Minato. He doesn’t know her name, but he knows they stay in the same dorm. She’s quite popular, she has a lot of friends, but he’s heard quite a few people call her names behind her back, like ‘bitchy’ or ‘catty’.

Despite these names, Minato feels something different from her. She seems to have some sort of sadness to her, something a little different than other types of sadness he’s seen in other people. For some reason, this girl in the pink sweater intrigues him. Most people just live at home with their families, the dorms are for people attending the school that can’t do that.

They have spoken a few times at the dorms, but it’s never lasted longer than a few words. Sometimes Minato wonders why she’s even living in the dorms, and whether or not it’s connected to the sadness he feels from her.

Minato himself is living there since his parents are dead. They were all in a car crash when he was young, and he was the only one who survived. Having both his parents die in front of him at such a young age, Minato became quite aware of his own mortality.

He knows he’s going to die; he knows people around him are going to die, he knows everyone he’d ever met is going to die, and he’s ok with that. That’s just what life is, you’re born, you live, you die.

Part of him wonders if the girl in the pink sweater thinks the same way. He often sees her walking by the river at night, she usually has a pensive look on her face like she’s lost in thought.

Tonight is one of those nights. Minato has a perfect view of said river from his dorm room, he was just playing a game on his computer when a familiar pink colour comes into his field of vision.

He glances out the window and sees her. She’s standing by the river as usual. He watches as she sits down on the grass and looks up at the stars, it looks like there’s a light breeze outs because her brown hair is blowing slightly. Her face is illuminated by the full moons light, the look on her face showing she’s thinking, but Minato can see that sadness more clearly than usual.

She seems to express herself more when she’s alone, maybe she doesn’t want other people to notice her feelings. That could be why people call her a bitch, maybe it’s because she conceals her sadness with anger.

There’s a part of Minato wants to just ask her and figure it out, but the rest of him knows that’s a silly thing to want. Even if he did ask, it’s unlikely that he’ll be met with a genuine answer.

He’s found that people are like that, they’re very rarely honest about how they feel. He’s seen so many people say they’re fine when somethings obviously wrong, he doubts that this girl would be any different, even if she is more intriguing to him than anyone else.

Even still he continues to watch her. There’s something peaceful about it, almost like watching a tranquil painting. It almost looks like the moon is creating a spotlight on her, the light pink of her sweater contrasting against the darkness of everything else.

It really is a beautiful night, it’s not really a surprise when some people start walking by the river after some time. Unfortunately, the girl in the pink sweater stands and starts walking back inside.

Minato sighs a little to see her go then decides to go back to his computer. That’s what usually happens when she’s out there

She’ll come back in whenever people start walking by. There are times when she talks to some people who are presumably her friends for a bit, but those conversations never last long.

Minato hears the faint sound of the front door of the dorms open as he assumes that the girl just came back inside. He hears a faint conversation, probably her talking with a dorm mate before everything goes silent again. The only sound that can be heard is the water rushing from the river and the crickets chirping from outside.

Minato soon turns off his computer and goes to sleep for the night. He knows that tomorrow he’ll see more of the girl in the pink sweater.


	4. Good luck charm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking a while to update, I've been busy. But I promise I'm doing my best!

**Yosuke POV**

Narukami is the best thing that’s happened to Yosuke. 

The guys only been here a day and a half now, but he’s already helped Yosuke a whole lot. Yesterday, he pulled him out of the trash. Then when it was raining this morning, when Yosuke forgot his umbrella, Narukami let him walk under his. Not to mention earlier in class, the teacher called on Yosuke and he had no idea what the answer was, Narukami discretely gave him the right answer. And now, when Yosuke realized he forgot his lunch, Narukami shared his own.

At this point, Yosukes pretty sure that Narukami is basically an angel. It’s like he’s always there when Yosuke needs him. Narukami can be a little strange sometimes, he does this thing where he says a joke but says it all with a completely straight face. It’s nearly impossible to tell the difference between him being serious and him joking.

But anyway, weird or not, Narukami is pretty great. Yosuke doesn’t really have any close friends here since his parents’ store are putting some smaller businesses out of business with their new store called Junes. They blame him for some reason even though he can’t control what his parents do, but Narukami doesn’t seem to mind.

Thankfully for Yosuke, school passes by quickly enough. After he says bye to Narukami, he runs off to work. He works at his parents store since he was sure to get the job, but his dad always makes sure to work him hard. Yosukes always getting called in to cover people who call in sick, or if anything happens where they need extra hands. Even though Yosuke complains about his work a lot, it could be a lot worse, at least he gets paid for all the extra work he does, and even though his dad’s strict, he’s still a good dad. He thanks Yosuke for his hard work sometimes and he has to admit, it does make him feel pretty good.

He gets to Junes and changes into his work clothes. He doesn’t have to do too much today, just make sure everyone’s finding what they need, restock shelves, things like that.

After some time, he hears a crashing sound. He quickly goes to the sound and sees a kid with a bunch of cans lying around him. It looks like he knocked over the cans from a display, first things first, Yosuke has to make sure the kids ok. He walks over and kneels in front of him.

“Hey, you ok kid?” He asks and the kid nods in response.

“Oh my! What happened to my Ikki?!” A woman calls as she runs over, Yosuke assumes this must be the kids mom.

“Don’t worry miss he’s ok, he just knocked over this display.” Yosuke explains and the look she gives him immediately fills him with dread. It’s a look he’s seen on quite a few people, and he’s never had a good experience with them.

“Well maybe if this display was made better, it wouldn’t have fallen on my little angel!” The lady snaps.

“Uuh, I don’t think it just fell on him, he had to have touched it or something…” Yosuke says and immediately regrets it. The woman gasps and her glare sharpens.

“My Ikki would never! He’s the purest angel ever, how **dare** you accuse him of knocking into the display!” The woman snaps, starting attract attention.

“M-Ma’am, please calm down, I’m sure he didn’t do it on purpose! It was probably an accident!” He says, deciding to pick up the cans so this woman has less to yell at him for.

“You must have been the one who built this display because it was obviously done horribly if it’s falling on innocent kids! Only someone as incompetent as you would do something like this!” She accuses.

“Actually, I didn’t make it, and it didn’t just fall on him, he might’ve touched it or something” Yosuke tries to explain it again but this just gets the lady to full out yell at him. She keeps saying how her kids a perfect angel and Yosukes an incompetent fool who doesn’t know how to do his job. He apologizes multiple times but the lady either doesn’t hear him or doesn’t care because she keeps going. She only stops when they hear a voice.

“Excuse me..?” Yosuke knows that voice… He looks over to see Narukami standing there. The woman frowns and turns to him.

“What?” She asks rudely.

“I need some help finding something, I need to ask that worker.” Narukami says, nodding to Yosuke and the woman frowns.

“You should find someone better than THIS boy he’s-“ She’s about to continue but Narukami cuts her off.

“I’m sure he could help me, now if you would excuse us, I need his help” He says. The woman shoots another glare before storming off. Yosuke can’t help but sigh in relief.

“Thanks bro, you saved me again.” He says, rubbing the back of his head.

“Don’t worry about it” Narukami assures, but Yosuke wants to find a way to thank him for all help he’s gotten today. He sees Narukamis holding a basket full of groceries and gets an idea.

“Hey, how bout this, I give you a discount on your groceries! It’s not much, but it’s what I can do for you right now” He offers.

“It’s alright really, you don’t have to” Narukami tells him but Yosuke shakes his head.

“No way man! Just let me help you out ok?” he smiles at him and Narukami pauses for a second then nods, accepting his request.

“Alright. Thank you” He says and Yosuke winks at him.

“No problem man.” He assures. Yosuke gets Narukami his discount then goes back to work after waving goodbye.

Today has been pretty eventful with Yosukes typical bad luck, but a certain Yu Narukami was always just around to help him out. Its almost like Narukamis a human good luck charm, like he’s always around when Yosuke needs him. Yosuke can’t help but smile a little as he thinks about it.

He’s sure that him and Narukami are going to be really good friends.


	5. Cats and Friendships

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got this one out faster for you guys! Hope you enjoy

**Makoto POV**

Akira kurusu.... Makoto has to admit, he interests her. 

It's not every day you meet someone who would put themselves in danger just to help out a stranger. She wasn't able to see him yesterday, her student council duties kept her too busy, but she's hoping to talk to him today. They don't have school today so she's planning on going back to that Cafe, if he's not there, then she'll just enjoy some coffee and possibly ask the owner where he was. 

She's almost there when some movement in an alleyway catches her eye. At first, she's nervous that it's more creeps like last time, however she quickly notices that the person hasn't even noticed her yet. 

She can't see his face, but she can see a boy lying on his stomach on the ground, he's looking underneath a dumpster. It sounds like he's saying something but Makoto can't make it out.

She curiously gets closer and sees a familiar head of disheveled black hair. Her eyes widen slightly in surprise.

"Akira-kun?" she asks and Akira quickly sits up, looking startled for a second. His eyes soften when he sees her and offers an awkward smile.

"Uh, hey Makoto..." He says as he rubs the back of his head.

"...What are you do on the ground?" Makoto asks, she's pretty sure this isn't normal behavior. Akira glances back under the dumpster.

"Well... There's a stray cat under there... I heard there's a guy around here hurting strays so I wanted to help him, but he won't come out from under the dumpster" Akira explains and Makoto can't help but smile a little.

"You really can't turn away from someone in need, hm?" She asks then kneels down to look at the cat under the dumpster. It's mostly black with a bit of white on its mouth, paws, feet, tip of the tail and inside its ears. It's piercing blue eyes stare back at them from underneath the darkness of the dumpster. Akira seems to think for a second before his eyes light up.

"Could you please stay here and make sure he doesn't go anywhere? I'll be right back" He says as he stands.

"Um.. Alright" Makoto says, it's hard to say no when he looks so determined. She watches as he runs off then turns back to the cat, watching it like she was asked to.

It's not long before Akira comes back holding a bowl. He kneels back down next to Makoto and puts the bowl on the ground near the dumpster.

"Sakura-san said I can use some milk to lure him out" He explains. The two of them watch as the cat slowly crawls out from under the dumpster, sniffing the bowl. Once it gets close enough, it starts lapping up the milk.

"That was quite clever of you" Makoto says and Akira smiles a little.

"Thanks, I just figured he was probably hungry" He says. He carefully reaches his hand out and pets the cat who purs happily.

"It looks like he's warming up to you" Makoto chuckles, she can't help but find this quite cute.

"Yeah, looks like it" Akira agrees, scratching behind the cats ear. "I don't wanna leave him alone on the streets, I'll see if I can keep him" He continues, seemingly talking to himself more than Makoto.

"That's very sweet of you. You must really care for animals" Makoto says.

"Well, they have feelings too, so I'd feel bad leaving this little guy out here by himself" Akira explains with a small smile. "Thanks for your help, by the way"

"I didn't do much..." Makoto says but Akira shakes his head.

"You made sure he didn't go anywhere when I went to get the milk, and you gave moral support" He says and Makoto can't help but smile..

"You make it sound like I really helped" She chuckles.

"Well, it's just nice having someone by my side" He says with a small smile but Makoto can see a bit of loneliness in his eyes.

"I'll stay by your side if it helps you out that much" She assures and Akiras eyes light up a little.

"That's... Really nice of you, thanks" He says. "I've had trouble making friends cuz of my record, but I'm happy I got one"

"Well, I don't have many friends either" Makoto admits "My student council duties take up a lot of time... So I apologize if I'm not great at this" Akira laughs at this.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you're amazing." Makoto feels her face heat up as he says this, he said it so... Genuinely, how could she not get a little flustered?

"W-We should bring the cat back to your place before the cat runs off again" She says quickly to change the subject.

"Oh, right" Akira carefully picks up the cat. The two of them walk to the Cafe LeBlanc together. The cat seems quite calm in the boys arms, he seems to have taken a liking to Akira.

When they arrive, it doesn't take too long for Akira to convince Sakura-san to keep the cat. Makoto takes note that Akiras puppy eyes are a force to be reckoned with, and when they're paired up with an innocent cat, they're nearly impossible to say no to.

Now that they have the cat issue settled, the two of them enjoy a cup of coffee together, the cat lying against Akiras leg.

"Do you have any idea what you're going to name him?" Makoto asks, watching the cat who's purring happily.

"I was thinking Morgana" Akira says, scratching under the cats chin.

" 'Morgana'? I like it. I think it suits him" Makoto assures with a smile.

"Happy you like it. And since you helped me find save him, feel free to visit him whenever you want" Akira tells her with a charming smile.

"I'll keep that in mind" Makoto responds, also smiling. She can't help it, Akira has a contagious smile.

When they finish their coffee, Akira invites her up to his room to play with Morgana. His room is just the attic of the Cafe, but it's surprisingly nice. There's lots of room and it has a rustic feel to it, it's a little dusty, but it's not too bad.

"You have a nice room" Makoto says politely.

"Thank you, it took a while to clean up when I first moved here, but I think I did a good job." He responds.

Makoto nods in agreement and Akira offers her a seat on his couch which she take. She watches as Morgana makes himself at home on Akiras bed. 

"I hope you don't feel uncomfortable up here, I know some girls feel uncomfortable in guys rooms.." Akira says. 

"Please don't worry, I trust you enough to know you won't try anything inappropriate. And the fact that you're worrying about me being uncomfortable shows me that I have nothing to worry about." She reassures and Akiras little smile reappears. 

"I'm happy to hear that." He says. "A lot of people are pretty uncomfortable around me, but I'm happy you aren't like that"

"Isn't that what friends are for?" Makoto asks.

"Yeah, you're right" Akira smiles genuinely as he responds.

The two of them spend a nice day together and Akira walks Makoto to the train station at the end of the day.

. Makoto can't help but smile a little as she's on her way home. She had a great day with her friend, and she finds herself wanting to see him again soon. 


	6. Group Project

  
**Yukari POV**

Yukari got the bad news in her Ethics class, they’re doing a group project. 

She was never a fan of group projects, especially when you can’t chose who you’re in a group with.

There’s always one person who doesn’t don’t do there work and leaves it up to the others in the group. This sucks even more when it’s a group of two, even if she tells the teacher about it they don’t do anything to help, they just give them a lower grade. Of course there are groups where the opposite happens to her, where her partner will insist on doing everything by themselves, this annoys her almost as much as the other thing. It’s like these people think she’s stupid, sure she’s pretty but that doesn’t make her a complete idiot.

“Takeba, you’ll be with Arisato” The teacher announces and Yukari glances at the desk next to hers where her partner sits. She doesn’t know much about Arisato, he’s quiet and never says much in class either. Despite this, he usually somehow manages to get the top mark every term. The two of them even live in the same dorm and Yukari can count on one hand the amount of times she heard him speak.

She stands and brings her chair to Arisatos desk then sits down on it, hoping that for once this group project will actually go well.

“So… I guess we’re partners, huh?” Yukari says, hoping to start up a conversation. The only response she gets from Arisato is a nod which doesn’t inspire much confidence for this project.

“Alright kids, now that you’re all partnered up, I’ll explain the project. I’m handing out this paper, each day you and your partner will have to answer one of the questions on the paper. Now some of these questions might be a little hard, but do your best to agree or find common ground with your partner. You’ll have to talk with them a lot so don’t get into any useless arguments, ok?” The teacher explains as he passes out the papers. “I’ll give you the rest of class to answer the first question, the rest is up to you.”

Yukari pulls the paper towards them to look at the first question.

“Let’s see here… ‘What is the meaning of life?’..? Seriously? What kind of question is this?” Yukari asks, mostly to herself. She tries to think of an answer but can’t really think of, so she glances at the blue haired boy next to her. “Do you have an answer?”

Arisato glances down at the paper, Yukari wasn’t really expecting an answer so what he says takes her by surprise.

“There isn’t a meaning to life. We live then we die, it happens to everyone no matter what” Yukari’s taken aback by his words, she’s never heard anyone say something like that so earnestly.

“Huh… Yeah, I guess you’re right” She can’t help but agree with that, he had a point, and she can’t think of anything better to write anyway. One glance around the room and Yukari sees most people are still trying to come up with an answer, so it looks like they’re ahead of schedule.

Since it was Arisatos idea, Yukari decides to write it down for them. When she finishes, she looks at her partner again, trying to find something to say since it’s clear that he’s not going to start a conversation any time soon.

“So, Arisato…” She starts but gets cut off.

“Minato” He corrects, once again, taking Yukari aback.

“Huh?” Yukari asks in her confusion.

“Just call me Minato, I don’t care about the formal stuff”

“Uh, alright then… I guess you can call me Yukari then” She says and once again, the only response she receives is a nod.

' _This might be harder than I thought…’_ Yukari thinks to herself, she knew he wasn’t very talkative but this is more than what she was expecting.

“…We’re in the same dorm, right?” She asks so they’re not sitting in awkward silence.

“Yeah” There he goes again with the super simple responses. 

“That’ll make meeting up easier, so we live in the same place anyway.” Yukari continues on. “Since there’s not many people who live in the dorms with us so we’ll have some privacy”

Minato responds with yet another nod, at least he’s listening but it’s hard to keep a conversation going alone like this.

“Are you always this quiet? That’s notices a good way to make friends yknow” She sighs, she doesn’t mean to be rude but she can’t help but speak her mind.

“I don’t care.” The boy answers bluntly and Yukari sighs again.

“Alright if you say so...” She decides to end the conversation there.

It’s not long before the class ends and the two of them part ways, Yukari going to her friends and Minato going off on his own again.

The school day passes by without anything eventful going on and last period finishes before Yukari knows it. She picks up her stuff and grabs her school bag, making sure she has all her homework for the night. She says a quick goodbye to her friends then walks out the doors, thankful that the days over. School always bores her, it’s rare anything interesting goes on there. Even though her conversation with a certain blue haired boy was lacking to say the least, it was still the most interesting part of her day.

She heads to the train station, the dorms are a short ride away so she’s quite used to this routine. She’s thankful to find a seat, usually they’re all taken by other students on their way home but she was lucky enough to get a free one today.

As she waits for her stop, a certain head of blue hair catches her eye. She glances over and sees Minato sitting across from her, he’s listening to music as he looks out the window. It doesn’t seem like he’s noticed her at all. 

Yukaris mind wanders back to what he said in class earlier, she can’t stop thinking about how he said something like that so easily and seriously. For some reason, it intrigues her.

She can’t help but think that despite his lacking conversational skills, this group project may not be so bad. 


	7. Sleepover

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took so long to write! I just was having trouble focusing on writing lately, but I hope you like it!

**Yu POV**

Hanamura must have been getting pretty frustrated with him. Yu’s been busy working the past few days so he hasn’t been able to spend much time with his friend after school.

Hanamura will usually just tell him it’s no big deal and that he has to work too anyway but Yu can tell he’s a little disappointed. Even though he was against making any friends when he moved here, Hanamura seemed to be an exception to that, no matter how hard Yu tried, he just couldn’t get himself to push the brunette away.

Maybe that’s why he decided to take a day off to spend time with his friend. Ever since he was old enough to work his parents decided they wanted him to learn how important working is in life. To do this, they told him he’d have to buy his own food, so if he wanted to eat, he’d have to work for it like many other people have to. It was quite a shock when it first happened but it’s easier now that he’s gotten the hang of it now.

He saw that he had enough groceries and money for the week so he decides that a day off to spend time with Hanamura after school shouldn’t be all that bad.

“Seriously bro?! That’s awesome, it’s gonna be awesome!” Hanamuras excited tone exclaims as Yu gives him the good news. “Can you stay over? I’ll ask my pare and you can ask yours, ok?” He asks as he takes out his phone, presumably texting his parents.

“There’s no need, my parents won’t be home anyway” Yu tells him and Hanamura gives him his signature grin, showing him his phone.

“Well great cuz my parents said you can stay over!” He says and winks. Yu can’t help but smile a little at this. “I’ll let ya go home first and get your stuff before we head to my place, sound good?” The brunette asks him which Yu responds to with a nod.

“Alright” He says which gets another one of those smiles from Hanamura and for some reason he feels a little flutter in his heart.

After school, Yu stops by his house and gets his thing to stay overnight. As he walks to the place where he’s meeting Hanamura, he can’t help but feel a little bit nervous. He’s never stayed over at a friend’s house, the most he’s done is stay with a relative for a while, but this is different. He tells himself to calm down, it can’t be too complicated, not to mention its Hanamura, the two of them have gotten along perfectly since the day they met. This does reassure him a little and he arrives at their meet up spot before he knows it.

Him and Hanamura find each easily and Yu is blessed with another smile.

“Hey bro! Got everything?” He asks and Yu responds with a simple nod. “Great! Then let’s go!” Hanamura starts leading the way to his house. The two of them talk together as they walk to Hanamuras house (although it’s Hanamura that does most of the talking) and it’s not too long before they are arrive at their destination.

“Well, this is it” The brunette says as he opens the front door for Yu. The silver haired boy walks in with Hanamura close behind him, he’s a little taken aback when he sees Yosuke parents in the living room.

“Oh! You must be Narukami-kun! It’s nice to finally meet you. Yosuke here’s told me a lot about you!” Hanamuras mom says as she stands to greet them. Yu smiles a bit at the words of the mother and glances at Hanamura to see that his friends face has turned an interesting shade of red.

“M-Moom!” He exclaims in retaliation.

“What? It is true isn’t it?” She retaliates and her son turns even redder.

“You’re embarrassing me!” He argues and Yu chuckles a little.

‘He didn’t deny it.’ He thinks to himself; the thought makes him feel a little happy.

“It’s nice to meet you Hanamura-san” Yu says, bowing politely. The mother chuckles and shakes her head.

“Please, no need to bow, any friend of Yosukes is considered family here” Yu, once again, feels a little taken aback by that response. Every time he’s met an adult, they’ve always been rather formal when it comes to meetings. No one’s ever told him he doesn’t have to greet them formally like this, it’s a nice change.

“Cmon bro, I’ll show you around” Hanamura says as he grabs Yus arm, pulling him away from his amused looking parents, most likely to stop them from embarrassing him further. Yu follows his friend as he’s given the tour of the house. The last place they stop is Hanamuras room, it has quite a few posters on the walls, some with girl pop bands and some with pictures with what Yu assumes are movies that he likes. There’s a bike in the corner along with a TV and a desk which is covered on manga and a few music dvds.

“Soo, what do ya think?” Hanamura asks.

“It’s much cleaner than I thought it would be.” Yu tells him and Hanamura elbows his arm.

“Hey! I’m not a complete slob yknow!” He argues and Yu chuckles a bit. He’s cute when he’s annoyed.

Hanamura walks over to his TV and turns it on along with the game console underneath of it. He takes two controllers and hands one to Yu, who takes it. The two of them sit down and Hanamura looks over at him.

“Anything you wanna play?” The brunette asks.

“I’ve never really played video games, so I’m not sure…” Yu admits. His parents always thought of them as a waste of time so they never let him play any.

“Really? Well let’s play this one then, we have to work together so I’ll help you out” Hanamura says with a wink that gets that little flutter to return in Yus chest.

“Alright” Is the only response Yu comes up with. Hanamura sets up the game for them and explains the basics of how to play.

“So, we’re partners! We work together to make it to the end got it?” He finishes and Yu nods to show he understands.

“Partners huh..? Alright I understand” Yu says, Hanamura flashes a smile before starting the game.

As it turns out, Yu isn’t very good at the game. However, this doesn’t stop them from having a great deal of fun. They would laugh when Yus character dies or when Yosuke barely manages to save him. The two of them play for long while before Hanamuras mom calls them for dinner. Hanamura stands and offers Yu a hand to help him up.

“Cmon partner, let’s go eat” Yu felt his face get a little hot at his friend’s words but choses to ignore it.

“Alright, let’s go, partner” Yu responds as he grabs his hand and watches Hanamuras face turn a cute shade of pink.

Dinner passes by pretty uneventfully, mostly the Hanamuras telling embarrassing stories about their son and said son getting upset and flustered over it. Yu on the other really enjoys it, it’s nice to sit and have a family dinner, even if it’s not his own.

After they eat, the two of them continue playing video games until they get tired. Yu helps his friend set up the spare futon, before going to sleep, Yu hears Hanamura say;

“G’night partner.” The smile spreads on his face as the words reach his ears, how could he not smile at that?

As it turns out, Yus first sleep over was pretty good. 


	8. Rainy Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh so sorry it took so long to write this again. I got pretty bad writers block for this chapter so it's not the best, but there should be better ones coming soon.

**Akira POV**

Akira would say he’s gotten pretty close to Makoto, they get along pretty well. She came by quite a bit after they found Morgana and the two of them would play with the cat, or chat with a cup of coffee.

School has become a lot more tolerable now that he has a friend to talk to and doesn’t feel completely alone. Of course, there are times when they can’t hang out since Makoto has student council duties she has to go to, but Akira doesn’t mind, he doesn’t expect to suddenly be her number, one priority just because they’re friends.

Today is a little though. He got a text from her saying she’ll be finished with her council work soon, so Akira decides to walk over to the student court room. With his tarnished image at this school and his lack of friends, it’s not like he has anything better to do.

When he gets there however, Makoto is talking to a guy Akiras never seen before. He decides to not to intrude on the conversation, it looks like he’s part of the student council as well. When the boy walks away, Akira takes that as his cue to go to Makoto.

“Working hard I see” He says and Makoto turns to him, smiling a little.

“Oh, Akira. Yes, we’ve all been occupied with the school event coming up” She explains.

“Oh, you mean that school sleepover I keep hearing about?”

“Yes, we have it every year to help the students that are getting anxious over the exams. It does need a lot of preparation, so we’ve all been quite busy.” Makoto tells him and Akira gives her a reassuring smile.

“I’m sure everything will turn out well, especially with how hard you’re working” He tells her and Makoto blushes a little bit.

“It’s reassuring that you believe in me.” She says as the two of them start walking to their lockers.

“That guy you were talking to, he’s part of the student council as well right?” Akira asks and Makoto nods.

“That’s Hironori-kun, he’s a pretty hard worker as well”

“I see, I guess the entire student council is pretty impressive, huh?” Makoto smiles proudly as he says this, which brings a smile to his own face.

“Yes, I believe so” She confirms as she gets her things from her locker. As they start walking to Akiras, Makoto looks outside and a frown appears on her face. “Oh…”

“What’s wrong?” Akira asks and looks outside as well to see that it’s raining, he then looks at Makoto and sees the problem. Among all of the things she got from her locker to bring home, an umbrella isn’t one of them.

“No umbrella, huh? I brought mine so we can share if you’re ok with that.” He offers, he knows some people might not be comfortable walking closely as you have to while sharing an umbrella.

“I… Yes, thank you, that would be nice.” Her cheeks are a little pink as she says this, but her smile is genuine.

“Great, I’ll walk you home then” Akira assures. They walk to his locker and he grabs all his stuff, along with his umbrella. They then walk to the school, Akira opens his umbrella, the two of them standing under it. 

They’re shoulders bump into each other every so often as they walk, the pitter-patter of the rain above then filling the peaceful silence.

“Thank you again for doing this, I really appreciate it” Makoto tells him.

“It’s not a problem, I don’t mind”

“I feel bad for making you walk home with me because of my own mistake though.” She sighs but Akira shakes his head.

“Seriously don’t worry about it. I don’t want you to catch a cold from getting all wet, plus I like spending time with you.” He says with a smile. Makotos face turns rather pink at that comment.

“I... Feel the same way” And now it’s Akiras turn to blush, but his smile doesn’t fade.

“I’m glad then”

The two of them continue to walk shoulder to shoulder in peaceful silence, Akira appreciates they can do this. There are many people out there who feel as though they have to fill up every moment of silence with talking, and that usually gets awkward fast. He likes that when he’s with Makoto they can have meaningful conversations, but also spend time not saying anything like now. It’s not awkward at all, it’s more calming than anything. Spending time with her, quiet or not always leaves him in a good mood. Even just walking with her, he has a content smile with him, he’s more than happy to have the extra little bit of time to spend with her after school like this.

Thunder sounds from behind them as the two of them walk and a sudden flash if lightning lights uo the sky.

“That doesn’t look good… LeBlanc is nearby, maybe we should stay there for a bit while the storm passes, it’s probably not good to be walking outside in this” Akira suggests and Makoto nods in agreement.

“I think that’s a good idea.” The two of them pick up the pace and walk into LeBlanc. Makoto takes a seat as Akira makes the two of them a cup of coffee. Morgana trots down the stairs and meows a greeting to them. Usually he’s not allowed out of Akiras attic room, but since the cafes closed at the moment Akira figures that it’s alright for him to come say hi. The cat jumps onto the seat next to Makotos as she scratches behind his ears.

Akira soon sits down placing their coffee cups in front of them. The two enjoy the beverage as they talk and Morgana settles on his seat, purring softly. When the storm calms down, Akira walks Makoto home before returning home. A smile still on his lips from the good time he had. He locks the door behind himself. He brings Morgana up to his room with him and sits on his bed.

Thinking about the time he spent with Makoto keeps a smile on his face until he falls asleep. 


	9. Peaceful train ride

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Argh another super late chapter! I'm so sorry! I started working and I haven't had much time to write! I really promise I'm doing my best to write these best I can and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

**Minato POV**

Minato would say the project has been going pretty well. Him and Yukari seem to have very similar outlooks on life, so they tend to find their answers rather quickly. He’s heard some of his classmates complain about their partners being impose to agree with on some questions, and some complain that it takes forever, but Minato doesn’t have that problem with Yukari. He’s thankful for that. 

He’s not spending as much of his free time alone as he did before, because even though they answer the question quickly, Yukari can get a little chatty sometimes. Minato doesn’t mind this though, for whatever reason Yukaris talkativeness doesn’t bother him like most other people do. It’s far from awkward or just talking for the sake of talking, she just more skilled than Minato at conversating.

His thoughts come to an end as he walks into the train star, like most days after school it’s packed with people going home from work and/or school. He navigates his way through the bustling crowd, he just needs to make it to his train and he’ll be home-free.

He’s about to put his headphone on to listen to music when a familiar voice catches his attention, getting him to look towards the speaker.

“I told you I’m waiting for someone, now leave me alone. They’ll be back any minute now.” Yukari tells a man who seems to be a few years older and standing in the way of their train, making it so she can’t get on without passing him.

“Aw Cmon cutie, you don’t need to lie. I just want to take you to get some coffee, what’s wrong with that?” The man asks.

“You’re obviously way older than me! That’s super creepy.” Yukari argues.

“Hey, age is just a number, just hurry up and come, it’ll be fun.” The guy says again. Minato finds himself walking over there before even noticing what he’s doing. Next thing he knows, he’s standing next to Yukari.

“Hey, are you coming?” He asks. Yukaris eyes widen in surprise for a second before they turn to a look of relief, getting closer to Minato.

“R-Right! Yeah, let’s go.” She says. Minato glances at the guy and is slightly amused to see annoyance in his eyes.

“Tch. Whatever, you’re not worth it anyway” The man mutters before walking away. Yukari let’s out a sigh of relief then smiles at Minato.

“Thanks for that, that creep wouldn’t leave me alone. You really helped me out.” She says.

“I didn’t do much.” Minato says with a small shrug.

“Geez, you don’t have to be so humble. You really did help me” She argues.

“If you say so” Is all Minato responds.

“Hey, since we’re both here, let’s take the train together. We’re going to the same place anyway, right?” She suggests and Minato shrugs.

“Alright” The two of them go off together, managing to find some seats together. Midway through the train ride, Minato notices Yukari glancing at his headphones.

“What is it?” Minato asks her, wondering if there’s something wrong.

“Huh? Oh, nothing… It’s just that you always have those things wherever you go. What are you always listening to?” She asks, age doesn’t sound judgemental, just curious. Minato hesitates for a second then hands one side to her.

“Wanna listen?” He asks. Yukari smiles and takes it, placing it to her ear as Minato does the same. She gets a little bit closer to him so they’re not pulling it off each other’s ears. Minato takes his MP3 and puts on a Playlist he thinks Yukari would like.

The two of them sit shoulder to shoulder on the train as the music plays in their ears. Minato finds himself feeling rather comfortable like this, one glance at Yukari shows that she’s feeling the same way. Minato feels a small smile playing on his lips. He hasn’t felt so at peace for a long time, he’s not sure if it’s the music, Yukari or all of the above, but it’s a nice feeling.

He’s feels a little disappointed when they arrive at their stop and Yukari takes off her headphone and hands it back to him.

“That was actually pretty cool” Yukari tells him as they both exit the train together, heading towards the dorms.

“I wasn’t sure you’d like it” Minato admits, Yukari smiles at that.

“Well I did. I was kinda surprised too but your music’s really not that bad” She tells him.

“You expecting it to be bad?” He asks.

“That’s not what I meant! It’s just that usually I don’t care for it much. But this felt… I dunno, different?” Yukari says and Minato feels another small smile.

“I’m glad.” After he sees he feels Yukari staring at him. When he makes eye contact, she quickly looks away, her cheeks a little pink.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to stare it’s just that.. You really don’t smile much… And it’s nice when you do…” She quickly explains. Minato feels his face heat up a little bit at her words and he looks away. He’s not used to people telling him things like that.

“Oh.. Thank you..” He says and Yukari laughs a little.

“Sorry, I made this kinda awkward, huh?”

“No, it’s alright” Minato reassures.

“You’re really easygoing, huh?” She laughs. “Well, I guess that’s a good thing. Makes it easier to talk to you. I feel like I can really be myself around you and you wouldn’t matter, yknow? I feel like I can’t do that with most of my other friends without them thinking I’m weird or something” She tells him.

“Maybe you need better friends then.” Minato responds. He didn’t mean to sound insulting, or rude, he’s just being honest. He doesn’t see the point of being around people if you can’t act like you want around them. Thankfully, Yukari doesn’t take offense, she laughs again.

“You’re super straightforward, it’s refreshing. Oh! Have you heard about the school sleepover school thing next week? You came here halfway through last year so this would be your first. You’re going, right?” She asks.

“I guess so. I have nothing better to do” Minato says.

“Well then, we’ll can hang out there together. It’ll be fun” Yukari tells him as they arrive at the dorms.

“Alright then” Minato agrees, earning a grin from Yukari.

“Great, well, I guess I’ll see you later then!” She says with a wave before heading off to her dorm room. Minato waves back before she goes then goes to his own room.

As he sits on his bed, he finds himself a little excited for this school sleepover, when he’s never been excited for things like this before… However, he’s pretty sure he knows the reason for his excitement, and that reason just so happens to be pretty girl in a pink sweater. 


	10. I'm not looking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops- longer chapter. My bad 😅. I didn't mean for it to be this long but yknow, stuff happens. Also sorry in advance for the kinda crappy ending of this chapter, I did my best. Anyways, hope you enjoy ^^

**Yosuke POV**

School sucks.

Yosuke hates school, it has been a little better since Narukami joined since they became fast friends, however his friends a bit of a goody-goody. This means that if Yosuke needs a distraction and wants to pass notes with the guy, he’ll only entertain the idea for a small period of time before deciding its not worth getting in trouble over.

So now, being in last period, merely minutes before the weekend, Yosuke can’t keep his eyes off the clock, his foot tapping impatiently. Why do minutes always feel like hours when you want them to pass by, but seconds when don’t want them too. He lets out an inpatient sigh, not loud enough for the teacher to hear, but enough for Narukami to glance back at him with an amused look in his eye.

Who could blame Yosuke for being inpatient though? It’s almost the weekend and he’s planning on spending it with his best friend, he wants this stupid school day to be over as fast as possible. 

After what feels like another lifetime, the bell finally rings, Yosuke springing to his feet.

“Finally! Jeez, I thought we’d be stuck in here forever!” Yosuke groans.

“Quiet down, the teacher might get mad if she hears you.” Narukami chuckles as he stands as well.

“Whatever, nothing she can do about it!” Yosuke says as the two boys walk out of class.

“She could give you more homework.” Narukami tells him, making Yosuke groan.

“Ugh, don’t even joke about that, partner.”

For some reason, after the sleepover at Yosukes place, the nickname ‘partner’ Just stuck. He said if as a joke to begin with, but he thinks the title suits their friendship, and it definitely sounds cooler than just saying ‘he’s my friend’. Narukami doesn’t seem to mind and Yosuke likes it, so Yosuke just kept calling him that ever since.

The pair leave school together and decide to walk around town. Their day mostly consists of Yosuke talking and rambling on about work, or school, or his parents while Narukami listens. The guy doesn’t like to talk about himself too much, Yosuke realized, but maybe he’s just the type of person who rathers listening than talking. Yosukes unsure whether there’s a reason for this, however if there is, he’s sure his partner will tell him when he’s ready. Yosukes just glad he’s gotten his friend to open up as much as he has already. When they first met, he kind of reminded to of a robot, it really seemed like he put up walls to keep everyone away. But Yosuke prides himself on being the one to sneak passed those walls and get his partner to seem more like a human.

He doesn’t even notice how late it’s gotten until Narukami points it out.

“It’s getting dark.”

Yosuke looks around and sees the street lamps have all been lit up and the sky is dark.

“Oh, yeah, you’re right. I should prolly head home.” Yosuke sighs.

“I can walk you there.” Narukami offers and Yosuke smiles, more time with his partner is time well spent in Yosukes eyes.

“Alright then, partner! Let’s go!” Yosuke says and leads the way, Narukami trailing behind him.

They’re walking by an alleyway when Yosuke suddenly hears quick footsteps coming from behind them. He quickly turns around to see what’s happening and his eyes widen in horror. A large man, taller than the two of them and much more muscular has one arm around Narukamis neck, the other arm pointing a gun at his partners head. Narukami also has wide eyes, glancing nervously at the gun pointing at his head.

“Give me all your money, or your friend here gets it.” The man orders, his voice gruff and demanding.

“A-Alright! Just don’t shoot!” Yosuke says, reaching into his pocket and taking out his wallet, his heart pounding in his ears. 

“…I have some too, but I need to go into my pocket to get my wallet…” Narukami says, Yosuke has no idea how he’s managing to sound so calm. He reaches into his pocket as he asks, but the guy tightens the arm around his neck.

“Get your fucking hand out of your pocket! I ain’t giving you chance to pull out a weapon or some shit.” He growls.

“…Alright…” Narukami says, his voice now a bit strained from the pressure of the guys arm. He does as he’s told however and slowly takes his hand out of his pocket.

“H-Here, just take my money and let him go.” Yosuke quickly says, handing over his wallet, both his voice and his hand shaking more than he’d like to admit. He’s terrified he’ll do something wrong and Narukami will die because of it.

The man grabs the wallet and opens it, looking at the contents. However, instead of accepting it and leaving, like Yosuke had hoped, he instead points the gun at Yosuke.

“That’s all you fucking have?! Where’s the rest of it?!” The man demands as the brunettes’ face pales, nothing could prepare him for staring down the barrel of a gun.

“I-I really don’t have any more that’s it!” Yosuke tries to say but the man cuts him off.

“Bullshit!! This is nothing! Give me more or else!” He threatens.

“He’s telling the truth, we just got off from school, we don’t have much money. I’ll give you mine too so it’s more, just let him g-“ Narukami starts but the man’s arm tightens more, cutting off his breathing.

“Shut the hell up! I wasn’t talking to you!” He growls as Narukamis eyes widen, quickly grabbing onto the man’s arm, trying to release the pressure.

“Please, I don’t have anything else…!” Yosuke pleads. He doesn’t want to die here, and he doesn’t want Narukami to die here either.

“Stop fucking lying! You have to have more than this!” The guy yells, making Yosuke flinch.

“I-I promise I’m not lying, please! Just let us go. I gave you all I have.” He tries again. He go nervously at Narukami again to see that his face has paled and it seems as if his attempts to get to release himself is weakening.

Yosuke is about to go into full panic mode when he hears police sirens approaching, the guy frowns and glares.

“Did you fucking call the police?!” He demands and Yosuke quickly shakes his head.

“N-No, I haven’t even touched my phone!” He says quickly.

The sirens get closer and the sound of doors opening echoes through the ally.

“God fucking dammit!” The guy curses then let’s go of Narukami who crumbles to the ground, not moving. The guy quickly runs off and Yosuke quickly goes to the unconscious figure of his friend. He carefully turns him onto his back. 

“Narukami! Hey can you hear me? Cmon partner, answer!” He says worriedly. He shakes his shoulder a little, but gets no reaction. He quickly looks at his chest and sees that he’s breathing which allows him to release a sigh of relief. He’s alive, but still not conscious. Yosuke bites his lip, trying to find a way to wake his friend up.

“Yu! Hey, wake up!” He calls out, hoping that the use of his first name might get through to him better.

“Hnng…” Yu blearily opens his and Yosuke let’s out a sigh of relief. A police officer rushes over to them while their partner chases after the man who attacked them.

“Are you boys alright?” They ask. Yu sits up, briefly touching his neck before nodding.

“I’m alright.” He assures, him and the officer look at Yosuke for his answer.

“Y-Yeah, me too…” He says.

Within the next while, the police manage to apprehend the man and they ask the two boys a bunch of questions, most of which were answered by Yu. As it turns out, Yu has a function on his phone that allows him to call the police by rapid pressing the power button multiple times. When he put his hand in his pocket to ‘get his wallet’, he managed to do this. Yosuke has no idea how he’s managed to keep his composure throughout all this. He can still feel his heart pounding and his hands can’t stop shaking, so how can his partner act like nothing happened. They could’ve died and he’s acting as if it’s just an average occurrence.

The police return the stolen wallet and take the man to the station, leaving the two boys by themselves. Yosuke watches the police drive away and turns to his friend when he feels a hand on his shoulder.

“Your parents are at work, right? I think my house is closer, you can come over so you don’t have to be alone.” He offers and Yosuke nods a little, agreeing to the offer. And so, Yu leads the way to his house while Yosuke follows close behind him.

It’s not too long before they arrive, Yu making to lock the door behind the door them. At Yus instructions to ‘Make himself at home, Yosuke sits down on the couch while his partner goes off to the kitchen to make them some tea.

As he waits, Yosuke looks around the house. The entire place is like something you’d see in a magazine. Everything seems perfectly clean, not even 1 thing out of place, or crooked. Even though pretty much everything about it seems perfect, something just feels a little… Off. Maybe it’s just Yosukes still in shock brain that’s making things up, but the place just seems a little empty. At his place, the walls are covered in pictures of him and his family, some of which Yosuke wishes they’d take down but his parents never do because it’s ‘memories’. But here, the only things on the walls are paintings or work achievements, he doesn’t see a single picture of Yu with his parents.

He’s pulled back to reality when he hears the clincking of teacups being placed on the table in front of him and his partner sitting down beside him. He’s expected Yu to say something about what just happened, or ask if he’s alright or something, but instead, all he says is;

“So, we’re on a first name bases now?” Yosuke gawks at his friend for a minute.

“What the hell dude?! We almost **DIED** and **that’s** what you’re asking?!”

“Well, you called me by my first name earlier, so I was just curious.” Yosuke shakes his head in disbelief.

“You’re so weird, bro… Do you know how worried I was?! He could’ve strangled you to death! Or worse, shot you! Now isn’t the time to be talking about first names or last names!” His voice cracks a bit at the last sentence, he can’t help but to be emotional right now, that was the scariest thing that’s ever happened to him. “You could’ve **died** Yu… I don’t want that to happen, you’re my best friend…”

“Yosuke…”

Oh… Yosuke didn’t mean to start crying, he really didn’t, it just… Happened all of sudden. He glances at Yu to see him observing with a soft, yet concerned look. This, however, just makes Yosukes emotions bubble up even more, getting him to quickly look away.

“Ugh, this is so embarrassing, I don’t even know why I’m crying… I especially don’t want you to see me cry….” He’s suddenly cut off by Yus arms wrapping themselves around him and pulling him into a hug. At this action, Yosukes face turns a bright pink.

“Wha-?! Hey! You dumbass this is for girls.” He tries to say to show that he’s alright and Yu doesn’t need to do this.

“I’m not looking.” Yu says, making Yosuke blink in confusion.

“Huh…?”

“You said you don’t want me to see you cry, I’m not looking. I can’t see you like this.”

“God you’re so weird sometimes…” Yosuke mutters as more tears fall. Before he knows it he’s hugging back, crying into his friends shoulder and letting out everything that he’s felt since the attack. Having Yus arms around him is strangely comforting, like having some kind of safety blanket. He doesn’t say anything, all he does is rub comforting circles into Yosuke’s back.

When Yosuke finally manages to calm down, he asks about something that’s been bothering him.

“Back in that ally… You do didn’t look scared at all… I was freaking out, how were you so calm?” He asks as he hesitantly pulls away from the embrace. Yu chuckles a little at his question.

“Yosuke, I was terrified.” He responds.

“Huh?! But you did everything so calmly, like it was all normal or something!” 

“There’s no way any of that’s normal” Yu says. “I just figured panicking at that moment wouldn’t help anyone.”

“Well what if that guy figured out what you were doing? He could’ve killed you!”.

“But at least it would’ve given you a chance to get away.” Yu tells him, looking completely genuine.

“…..Seriously partner, you really are amazing…” Yosuke tells him and Yu looks away a little, a small smile appearing on his face.

“Let’s drink our tea, before it gets cold.” He says simply. And so that’s what they do, just enjoy their tea together in peace.


	11. Motives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry for slow updates, work takes out of writing time, but here's the next chapter, enjoy!

Akira POV

The school sleepover ended up being quite of fun. Akira and Makoto mostly stuck together throughout the whole thing. They got a few looks and he heard a few people whispering things along the lines of;

“Is that the trouble transfer student with the student councils president? She must have been assigned to watch him or something.”

But it didn’t really matter much to them. They were having fun. The day mostly consisted of team building activities, most of which in teams of two. They managed to come out first place in both the obstacle course and a trivia game. Akira himself was quite quick and flexible, he was often told back home that he could’ve became an acrobat if he wanted to. His mom would often joke that he’d make a great thief as well, but he’s not planning on doing that any time soon.

As for the trivia, both him and Makoto are quite clever. With the two if then together, they were practically unstoppable. 

They weren’t the only impressive ones there though. Akira saw a second year wit silver hair win practically on his own. His partner didn’t look like he knew any of the answers, but they still managed to win.

All in all, Akira would say that the day was a pretty good one. Now, everyone’s in the gym, setting up their makeshift beds for the night. They were told that they’re not allowed to leave the gym until morning unless it’s to go to the bathroom, in which case they’ll be chaperoned by a teacher. Akira supposes this is to keep the kids from causing trouble.

“We make quite a team.” Akira says to Makoto, helping her set up her bed.

“We definitely had that trivia in the bag.” She chuckles and Akira smiles, she really is quite cute when she laughs.

“You can say that again.” Makoto looks like she’s about to say something else when that student council guy she was talking to a little while ago walks over.

“Makoto-san, you were amazing today. As to be expected of our student council president, of course.” He says, sitting himself down next to her.

“Oh, thank you, Hironori-kun.” Makoto says.

“Oh, by the way, I have to talk to you about the last student council meeting. “And just like that, the two of them start chatting away about student council stuff. Akira decides it’s not really his business and let’s his attention wander away from then to the other students around them.

The first thing that catches his attention is girl searching around her bags desperately, her friend next to her trying to help.

“Maybe you forgot it at home…” The friend says and the girl shakes her head, looking defeated.

“No… I bring it everywhere… Maybe it fell earlier and I didn’t notice… I’ll have to look everywhere tomorrow! I can’t lose that bracelet! It was my mom’s!” The girl exclaims, having tears in her eyes. Akira purses his lips, this bracelet clearly means a lot to this girl… He makes a mental note to look for it tomorrow to return it to her.

The next thing he hears, however, changes that. Two boys on the opposite side from the girls are snickering and laughing with each other.

“You hid it right? Oh my God dude you’re such a jerk.” One guy laughs.

“Yeah, its in one of the desks in class 3-B. She’s prolly freaking out right now! She never goes anywhere without that bracelet. Oh man, it’s gonna be so funny watchin her scrambling around looking for it tomorrow!” The other laughs and Akira frowns. How could they have taken something so sentimental from someone and call it funny. He knows he can’t let them get away with this.

One glance around the room shows that there’s no teachers nearby. He takes this as an opening and sneakily makes his way to the door, managing to get out without anyone noticing.

__

Makoto POV

She hadn’t realized how much of her attention was taken by the conversation with Hironori-kun, until she goes to ask Akira a question just to notice he’s not next to her anymore. She scans the gym for her friend and spots him leaving the gym, her first thought is that he’s probably going to the bathroom, but then she realizes no teachers went with him. She frowns a little, it’s not like Akira to just blatantly break the rules without a good reason. 

Makoto excuses herself from the conversation with Hironori-kun, taking it upon herself to see what her friend is up to. She quickly yet stealthily leaves the gym after her friend. 

She knows it’s a bad idea to call out to him after all, some teachers might hear and catch them, so all she can do is follow his quiet footsteps and whatever flash of movement she see in front of her. When she gets to the third floor, Makoto realizes she’s lost track of him, he could ne anywhere on this floor for all she knows. 

She takes a quick look around and finds that a door to one of the classrooms is ajar. Deciding that this must be where Akira disappeared to, she pushes the door open. As she looks inside the class, she sees her friend looking into a desk. 

“What are you doing?” She asks, startling him and making him quickly turn to her. He seems relieved to see it’s her though.

“Makoto, you followed me?” He asks and the brunette nods in response.

“I saw you leaving and I wanted to know what you were doing.” She tells him.

That’s when he tells her what he overheard about the guys stealing that girls bracelet and hiding it in one of the desks in this class. She can’t help but sigh and smile a little.

“You really can’t let things go hm? Well, even if this might not be the best way to go about it, I can’t say I disagree with your actions…” Makoto admits.

“Does that mean you won’t tell anyone I’m here?” He asks.

“I won’t tell anyone” She assures and Akira smiles.

“Good, that means I don’t have to tell anyone you were here with me” He jokes and Makoto chuckles a bit.

And so the two them search in all the desks for the missing bracelet. After a minute Akira takes a charm bracelet out of the desk.

“Hey, I think this is it.” He calls and Makoto walks to the back of class to him.

“We’ve checked every other desk so it must be” She agrees. Akiras just putting the bracelet in his pocket when they hear a voice from outside the class.

“Hey, is someone in there?” It calls, Makoto turns to the door, panic going through her. They can’t get caught, they’d be in big trouble, she can’t risk that as the student council president. Before she can even think of a solution she feels Akira pull her arm towards the back of the class.

“Come on.” He whispers as he silently opens the door to the supply closet in the back. Makoto immediately understands and slips inside with him just as the door to the classroom opens.

“I saw the light on! I know there’s someone in here!” The voice calls, the pair hearing footsteps walk around the room.

The inside of the closet is very cramped, barely any room for the two of them. Makoto has no choice but to be pressed up to Akira, neither of them having enough room to move. She feels her face heat up and her heart beat faster. Is it the fear of being caught that’s doing this to her? …Or maybe it’s because of how close she is with her friend. No… That can’t be it. This feeling has nothing to do with being close.

The footsteps circle the room a few times before finally stopping when they hear a sigh.

“Someone probably just left the light on…” They mutter and the footsteps disappear down the hall. The two of them stay put for a little longer, even after the footsteps have disappeared. Neither of them move at all, like they’re frozen in time, Makoto isn’t even sure how long it’s been since the man left the room, maybe seconds, maybe an hour, like time has no meaning.

The moment ends however, when Akira is the first to speak.

“We… We should probably get back before someone notices we’re missing…” He says in a hushed voice.

“R-Right..” Makoto agrees, her face heating up all over again. At that, they slowly get out of the closet, careful not to trip each other or make too much noise.

One glance at Akira and she sees he’s a little flushed as well, so it’s clear she wasn’t the only one who’s blushing. That makes her feel a little less embarrassed. The two of them make their way back to the gym. They manage to sneak back in without trouble and Akira hands Makoto the bracelet.

“It’s the girl over there, the one that looks upset. Could you bring it back to her for me?” He asks and Makoto looks at him in confusion.

“But you’re the one that found it… Isn’t it better I’d you give it to her?” She asks but he shakes his head.

“Getting your stolen bracelet back from a criminal sounds kinda sketchy.” He tells her with a sad smile, Makoto purses her lips but nods. She feels bad that her friend is treated like this, but there’s not much either of them, can do about it. 

So, Makoto returns the bracelet to a very grateful girl, she gets thanked at least 20 times. When the girl finally finishes, Makoto glances back at Akira who has a soft, content smile. Even though he didn’t get the credit, he looks as happy as if he did. Just watching him like that makes her chest give a little flutter like in the closet. She’s not really sure what it means, but she likes the feeling of it. 


	12. Maybe not so bad

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAGH IM SO SORRY!! I had MAJOR writers block while writing this!! Not to mention my phone broke with half the story written on it so that didn't help. But enough excuses! It's finally hear and I really hope you enjoy!

**Yukari POV**

Usually Yukari doesn’t care for events like this. She’d much rather hang out with her friends somewhere actually fun not the school. However, she can’t help but feel a little excited when she meets Minato in the lobby of the dorms. The two decided to go together since they live in the same place, it’s just easier like that. Yukari plans to meet with some friends at the train station, and she hopes Minato sticks around after that.

He’s certainly not the biggest people person, but she already made plans to hang out with her friends that day. Despite this, she still hopes the blue haired boy stays with her. She likes his company.

Just as promised, she finds her friends near the train platform and the excitedly wave her over.

“Yukari! What took you so long?” Her friend, Rise, asks before noticing Minato standing next to her. Her grin widens as she looks back and forth between the two of them. “Hey, don’t tell me… Is this your boyfriend?!”

At this, Yukari feels her face get set on fire, her eyes wide in surprise.

“H-Huh?!” She asks, making Rise grin more.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” She asks, smirking smugly.

“Stop teasing them, Yukari would’ve told us if she got a boyfriend, right?” Her other friend, Ann, tells Rise.

“E-Exactly! We’re just friend, geez you’re gonna scare him away talking like that…” Yukari sighs. The last thing she wants is for Minato to be overwhelmed by her friends energy. Thankfully, when she glances at him, he has the same indifferent expression he usually wears. “Let’s just get going before we’re late.” She sighs and the group walks onto the train.

“So, how’d you two meet anyway?” Ann asks curiously as they take their seats on the train.

“Oh, well we live in the same dorm, but we started talking when we got paired together for a project.” Yukari explains.

“That almost sounds like the start of a cheesy love story.” Rise giggles but shuts up when Yukari elbows her.

“Stop that!” Both Ann and Rise just laugh at this and Yukari sighs, turning back to the blue haired boy. “Sorry about them, I’d like to say they’re not always like this but that would be a lie.”

“It’s fine. I don’t care.” Minato says with a small shrug.

“Whoa! He spoke!” Ann exclaims and Yukari finds herself rolling her eyes again.

“Of course he speaks, don’t look so surprised.” She tells them.

“Well it’s the first thing he said so far! Hey, Arisato-kun, what do you think of Yukari?” Rise asks out of the blue and Yukari once again feels her face heat up.

“You don’t have to answer that if you do-“. She quickly starts but is cut off midway through.

“She’s nice. Usually I’d rather be on my own but Yukaris fine.” He says, turning Yukaris face an even more embarassing shade of pink. As far as compliments go, it really wasn’t much, but coming from him, it means a whole lot more.

“L-lets talk about something else, ok?!” Yukari says quickly, earning herself a smug look from the two other girls. Fortunately, they do listen and don’t mention it for the rest of the train ride.

Everything seems to be going well, up until they get to the school. When the three of them are about to walk in the doors, a boy Yukari recognizes from the other class runs over. Yukari doesn’t know his name since he’s not in the same class, but this guy often tries to flirt with her in the hallways. Usually she wouldn’t mind, but this boy gets angry when she turns him down so needless to say she’s a little wary of him.

“There you are Yukari-chan. I was waiting for a while. Come on let’s hang out together all night.” He says with a smirk, probably thinking about how smooth that comment was which makes it really hard for Yukari to not roll her eyes.

“Sorry, I already planned to be with my friends tonight.” She tells him and his smirk disappears, being replaced with an unimpressed frown.

“I’m trying to ask you on a date, can’t your friends wait?” He asks, already getting testy which probably isn’t a good sign.

“We’ve been planning this for a while so I can’t just ditch them.” As she says this, she sees his face start turning red.

“Bullshit! I know you’re into me just stop playing hard to get and c’mon!” He orders. As he says it he reaches a hand out to grab her arm, but before either of them can blink, Minato’s standing in front of her with the guys arm intercepted in his hand.

The guy pulls his arm away aggressively.

“Who the hell are you?! Her boyfriend or something?!” He asks, glaring daggers. Yukaris seen this guy get annoyed before, but it seems his patients with her turning him down without a solid reason has run out.

“Y-Yeah! He’s my boyfriend” She says quickly. The anger in the guy’s eyes swells for a second before he looks away, fists clenched.

“Tch, whatever. You’re a bitch anyway.” He mutters before storming away. Yukari sighs in relief then looks at her blue haired friend.

“Are you alright?” She asks and he responds with a nod, turning his head back to look at her.

“Are you?” He asks in return.

“Yeah, he should leave me alone now thanks.” Yukari sighs.

“So… Boyfriend huh?” Rise asks teasingly while Yukari shoots a glare.

“Hey, I only said that so that creep would leave me alone!” She retorts. Rise puts her hands up in surrender while Ann watches looking rather amused.

“Alright, that’s enough teasing them. I would’ve done the same thing if that happened to me.” The blonde reasons. .

“Let’s just get inside, we’re gonna miss the fun stuff if we stay out here” Yukari says and walks into the school, followed by the others.

Even after the encounter outside, the four still manage to have a good time. They spend the night playing the games set up for them at the end of the night, they have to say goodbye to Minato who has to go to the boys side to sleep.

“Y’know, if you did like him you could tell us.” Rise whispers, lying down in her sleeping bag next to Yukaris.

“I told you to drop it” Yukari groans, feeling her face get warm.

“She’s right though, if you wanted to date someone, I think he’d be a good choice.” Ann agrees.

“Just go to sleep guys” Yukari sighs as her friends’ giggle.

As they all go to sleep, Yukari can’t help but think that if Minato did become her boyfriend one day, it probably wouldn’t be all that bad…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked this chapter! I was actually gonna make Yukaris friends up, but then I thought that it would be cute if the lovers arcana girls are all friends. So that's what I ended up doing.


	13. The Best Damn Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry. No excuses this time, just sorry for not another while without updating.

**Yu pov**

The night was going well.

Him and Yosuke stayed together the whole time, playing games and doing activities with the rest of their school. They even won the trivia contest (even though Yosuke wasn’t much help, he was good moral support). It’s almost funny to think that one boy has gotten him to come out of his shell so much. If this were any other year, he doubts he would have even participated in any of the activities. He would have stayed home and studied for the upcoming exams if it weren’t for Yosuke convincing him to come along. 

“Cmoon, it’ll be fun partner!” He had said with that big, bright smile that Yu just can’t say no to. “It’s better than locking yourself away to study, that’s so boring! Plus you’re smart enough to pass them all already.” 

And as it seems, that smile is Yu’s weakness. Whenever it comes out, Yu just bends to it’s will. So instead of stressing about exams all weekend like he would’ve, he actually had a pretty good day. 

That is, until he checked his phone. He’s used to only getting texts and calls from Yosuke, so seeing a text notification while his partners been with him all day is a little odd. He thought it might just be spam, but opened it anyway, his heart dropped when he saw what it said.

Mother: We will be home within the next few weeks. Make sure everything is proper. 

He’s not sure how long he’s been staring at this one simple message for. His parents rarely ever text him, and they haven’t stayed at their houses longer than a few hours to sleep some nights. They often just stay at inns or hotels close to their work so they can get there quickly at any hour. Yet, here’s the message saying they’ll actually be staying at their house. The part that stresses him out the most is they didn’t give him an exact date, she just said ‘within the next few weeks’, they could show up any time. His parents are rather particular about how the house must be kept. If they came home and Yu didn’t have it up to their standards, he’d definitely get in trouble

He’s pulled out of his worries when a hand waves in front of his face. 

“Hellooo? Earth to partner.” Yosukes voice calls and Yu turns off his phone screen. 

“Sorry” he tells his friend who looks a little worried.

“Are you ok..? It’s not like you to just zone out like that.” Yosuke says and Yu gives him a small reassuring smile. 

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it” He assures.

“If you say so bro…”

__  
 **Yosuke pov**

It wasn’t nothing.

Ever since that night, Yosukes noticed that his partners been unusually antsy whenever his phone goes off. Sometimes Yosuke thinks he might be overthinking it, but when he sees the way his shoulders stiffen and the slight purse of his lips, he knows something must be bothering him. 

The problem is, whenever he tries to bring up the subject, Yu just brushes it off. Sometimes he says it’s because he’s stressed for exams (which is completely ridiculous, he’s The smartest person in their grade), sometimes he brushes it off completely and says it’s nothing. Yosuke isn’t sure which one annoys him more. 

It’s not just that either, he’s still working a few different jobs as well as studying for hours every day. Yosuke knows he’s got to be overworking himself, no normal human can push themselves that hard without having some reproductions later on. And on top of that, even with all the studying and working, he still finds time to spend with Yosuke. At this point, Yosukes sure it’s a miracle his friend hasn’t ended up making himself sick. 

Every time they hand out, Yosuke always ends up asking him things like;

“Are you getting enough sleep? You are last night, right? Why don’t you take a day off?” He’s asked these so much that he’s starting to feel like a worried girlfriend of something… But every time he asks, Yu just gives him that small, calm smile and says;

“Yosuke, I’m fine, don’t worry about me.” 

Which is much easier said than done in Yosukes opinion. He’s always known his partner has a firm grip on his emotions, especially at the beginning of their friendship. It often felt like he built a wall between himself and everyone else, Yosuke always thought he manages to get inside that wall, but once inside, all he found was another wall. Yeah he’s much closer to Yu than anyone else in this school, but there’s a still a distance that just seems nearly impossible to clear. 

Therefore, Yosuke plans to make it his personal mission to get through his partners second wall. Hey, he’s managed to get through the first one that keeps everyone else away, with just that he’s learned a lot more about Yosuke than anyone else had and he’s sure that the longer he stays with his partner, the easier this mission will be. Yu may not be much of a people person, but he puts up with Yosuke so that must be a good sign.

Even though his partner keeps shutting him down, he’ll keep trying to help. Even if it comes off as annoying, he wants to be there for Yu, so if being a little pushy’s the way to go, then he’ll do it, no questions asked. 

Even though him and Yu have only been friends for a little while now, he’s helped Yosuke out so much. Just being around him makes Yosuke feel more confident. Being around Yu just makes him so happy, and he wants Yu to feel that sand happiness when he’s around Yosuke. He wants his partner to trust him and to rely on him as much as he relies on Yu. When if that’s going to take time, Yosukes prepared to be the best damn friend that’s ever existed.


End file.
